Father's death  − 1 May, 1987

My father was an alcoholic and abusive to my mother, which led to her divorcing him in 1985. Following this, his life got even worse; he moved into a dump apartment on the east side of Des Moines and continued a downward spiral that concluded when he fell down a long set of metal stairs in his apartment, killing him.

The impact of his death on my life was an immediate improvement in my quality of life as well as my mother's, as his social security death benefits allowed my mother and I to move into a nice apartment in Urbandale, beginning a very nice period in my life, the period I really consider to be my "childhood".

Comments:

jmaseberg (July 17, 2006. 11:27pm)

All my life, I've heard my Dad say that the best thing that happened to him was his father dying when he was a teenager. I'm glad that I don't feel that way about my Dad, but I totally understand what an abusive SOB can do to a family. It can mess things up for generations.